


It Is A Very Human Thing (To Love)

by Xzeihoranth



Category: RWBY
Genre: Family Feels, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-17 22:56:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21651130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xzeihoranth/pseuds/Xzeihoranth
Summary: Winter reflects on what those words mean, and what her sister means.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	It Is A Very Human Thing (To Love)

**Author's Note:**

> Suggested by an anonymous message sent to my RWBY blog siennakhanappreciation.

"It is a very human thing to love."

Winter doesn't know where those words had come from. They're certainly not the sort of thing Father would ever say, even in one of his highly-scripted public speeches. Perhaps it was Mother then? She suspects she's blotted out most of her memories of Mother, to give Father one less weapon to wield against her.

And Winter knows weapons. She has seen so many, and forged a few of her own. It had taken her several tries until she had been happy with her Rakuyo. But they had not all gone to waste. Her younger sister had been inspired by one of the early designs of twin rapiers and ended up making her own in a single try. It seemed so flimsy to Winter, but it seemed to serve her sister well.

Winter has forged herself into a weapon. To be human was to be like her 'father', ruled by fleeting passions and baser lusts. To be _more_ than that was to be like the General, to see all and to prepare accordingly.

Then why had Beacon fallen so spectacularly? There is no conceivable plan that could account for the General foreseeing Atlas's own equipment being turned against it, against the civilian populace.

She refused to give these thoughts any quarter in the sanctum of her mind. Instead she followed instructions as she always had ( _exchanging one cage for another?_ No. The General does not believe in cages. _Then what was he holding that Roman Torchwick in?_ Enough.); she was there for Fria the same as she always had, _and isn't it ironic, the girl named Winter in line to be the Maiden of Winter?_

Magic will help control her, diminish those smiles that she feels crawling across her face like a Centinel when she looks at Penny trying so hard, because it's all she knows how to do. It's all either of them know how to do. _It is a very human thing to love._

And when word of her sister's escape to Mistral filters out of the fortress that Father-Jacques has made their home, Winter feels an icy chill take hold of her inside, and she hates it. To hate is human too, and she hates how she hates. She hates who she is becoming, cold and unforgiving like Jacques-Father, just of a lesser shade of white, and for a moment each night as she sits at the old woman's bedside, she wishes she'd just give _in_ already. She could do so much more instead of holding onto fading hopes that the next round of treatments might work; she could _fly_ , she could _fight_ , she could take the new Tower as high as it needed to go, she could end this impossible threat they're facing; she could forget all about the reason why she had to be strong in the first place, why nothing is ever good enough, nothing _will_ ever be good enough; she could forget that fear at the first sign of raised voices ( _because fear brings the Grimm, stamp it down, stamp it out, keep it out of sight, out of mind_ ); she could forget feeling so useless to protect her baby sister ( _and so you just stopped after a while, you taught her how to protect herself_ ); she could stop this, stop this _right now, you are my mind and I am you and you will obey me_ _and how can you think you can outrun yourself, that's all you've been doing, you outrun your mother, you outwit your father, you outlive your sister because she's going into hell for all you know they could be attacking there next, you outrise Ironwood because you see that he's faulty, for all his implants and upgrades he is_ _ **still VERY HUMAN**_ -

And then it's over. She doesn't know where she is, just knows that they've won (barely), and her body, honed and fine-tuned and burning with more power than she can ever use (and that's the thing about magic, it doesn't make you better or make you _more_ , it makes you different), is betraying her. She's tired, she is SO TIRED, it feels like the Apathy her sister had spoken about.

And here is her sister. Weiss. Looking regal and loving, and how can she love after all that she's been through, she had it worse than you ever did-

"Winter." Weiss says, and Winter fights back a sob. "It's okay. You don't have to fight any more. Just be yourself."

"I- I-" _I don't know who I am any more_ , Winter wants to say, but she can't.

And Weiss knows anyway. "You're my sister. You're Winter. Not the Winter Maiden. Winter."

Winter is used to being taller than her sister. Used to Weiss looking up at her, to her. But as she falls forward, they are even, for the first time.

Weiss catches her and holds her while her body betrays her and she cries. If she could, she would look up at Weiss now, could see her thoughts forming into words that she speaks out loud, that Winter finally remembers.

"It is a very _mortal_ thing to love."

**Author's Note:**

> We've been stanning Winter Schnee since volume 3, and we refuse to stop.


End file.
